The University of Michigan Health System’s plans to construct a new 297,000-square-foot health center in Brighton are moving forward with the Board of Regents’ approval Thursday of a schematic design and authorization to issue bids and award contracts.
The $175 million ambulatory care facility will be built in Brighton south of Challis Road on 32 acres owned by the UMHS. This project will improve community access to health care, including an enhanced and comprehensive set of patient care services for Livingston County residents.
At the meeting, regents approved the schematic design along with UMHS’ request to issue bids and award contracts for excavation and grading, construction of parking lots and roadways and on-site utility work. This proposed work represents $6.8 million of the total project budget.
Regents also received a design rendering of a multistory brick building. UMHS already operates three existing health centers in Livingston County. The new building will be close to UMHS’ current Brighton Health Center at 8001 Challis Road. The Kellogg Eye Center of Brighton is at 5720 Whitmore Lake Road. The Howell Pediatric and Teen Clinic is located at 711 Byron Road. All of the existing facilities will remain open.
“We are happy to move forward with this exciting opportunity to bring world-class medical care to the Brighton area community,” says Dr. Connie Standiford, executive medical director of the U-M Medical Group.
The new Brighton health center is expected to house more than 40 specialty services for children and adults. The facility will include adult and pediatric specialty care, infusion, a comprehensive musculoskeletal center, sleep lab, ambulatory diagnostic and treatment center, comprehensive oncology care, operating rooms, short-stay unit, medical procedure unit, pharmacy, radiology and lab services. Surface parking is planned on site.
Construction is expected to be complete in summer 2018 and the project is expected to provide an average of 125 on-site construction jobs.
“Visits to our clinic have now reached more than 2.3 million visits per year. Our goal is to increase access and make it easier for our patients to get the care they need,” says Jeanne Rizzo, the U-M Medical Group chief operating officer.
UMHS has been consistently working to improve patient access and has opened several new facilities that increased clinical capacity, including Northville Health Center, which provides primary and specialty care closer to home for patients in metro Detroit.
UMHS also has announced plans for the construction of a 75,000-square-foot health center on the west side of Ann Arbor. That $46 million project is expected to open in 2017.
